400 MW Solar Power Park Approved For Construction On Remote Japanese Island
A proposed 400 MW solar power plant has just been given the go ahead by the Japanese government to begin construction. The large solar installation will be located on a remote island in southern Japan, off of the city of Sasebo, and will supply the city with electricity via an undersea transmission line.
The new plant will be one of the largest completed in Japan. It is expected to create around 150 new jobs on the island. The government in the region is supporting the project with the intent of reducing its reliance on expensive gas imports and increasing its renewable energy capacity. The plant is expected to cost, in total, about 100 billion yen ($1,036 or £678 million).
Business Green writes: “The project was awarded planning consent [this week] and is expected to move forward in May when Photovolt officially launches a venture with its project partners. The news comes after the Japanese government last week approved 10 per cent cuts to the country’s solar feed-in tariff to 37.8 yen (27 pence) per kilowatt. The cut came into effect yesterday, reducing the returns developers are likely to generate from solar projects.”
Another big project announcement this week was that US company First Solar just acquired control of a 150 MW solar energy project in California, purchasing it from Energy Power Partners, an affiliate of The Goldman Sachs Group. That utility-scale solar project, Solar Gen 2, should be finished next year. It will be located in Imperial County. Construction is supposed to begin sometime this year.
Image Credit: Solar In Japan via Shutterstock
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